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Chapter 17 - Welcome Home (CF)
A massive misunderstanding. A huge misunderstanding. Bow had only ever referred to those who had dethroned her as “the usurpers.” Tubba had never expected a former Glitz Pit employee, and one of his friends, to be the usurper. Dibby floated in front of them, her subjects lingering at the side, as those who had been in the courtyard were thrown into the foyer roughly, next to their friends. “Ouch. Rough landing,” Shazam remarked, not cowed by the amount of spirits around them. He sat up and waved. “Hi, Dibby!” He was acting as if it was merely just another day in the Glitz Pit of a decade ago, and Dibby wasn’t the leader of a group of undead spirits. Dibby began to speak, and it was then that Tubba noticed an atypical scratch - almost like a scar - stretching across her mask. Undead spirits were not usually susceptible to physical changes, so the fact that Dibby had a slash across her mask meant something more sinister and dark had occurred. However, other than that, she was still the same silver Boo Guy, with two small appendages at the front and a tiny tail lingering around the ball that served as both her head and body, the mask curled across it. “Well?” Dibby prompted, and Tubba realized that he had been too caught up in the mask to pay attention to what she was saying. Glancing around at his friends, he realized that they were expecting him to speak for them. “What? Could you repeat that?” Tubba asked, to the hisses of displeasure and cackles of maniacal laughter of the Boos, clearly waiting for Dibby to chew him out. Dibby twitched her silver tail with displeasure and irritation. “I don’t have time for your insubordination, Tubba” She floated ahead of him, anger evident in her taut holding of her appendages. “Why did you try to infiltrate Boo Mansion?” Knowing that it was best to be honest, Tubba prefaced his words with: “We come from Lady Bow.” Instant uproar. Tubba immediately knew that he had phrased that horribly wrong - he came from a rebel group of Boos, and was caught infiltrating and in a fight at Boo Mansion. Boos swept down, some hissing and spitting in displeasure, others cackling with their typical maniacal laughter as they knew the hole Tubba had dug for himself. “Wait!” Shazam called urgently as Dibby bubbled up with anger. Lashing her tail, Dibby gave a silent order for the Boos to stop their furious shouting and flying around haphazardly. Shazam gave Tubba an exasperated look, before turning to Dibby. “You know Tubba phrased that wrong,” he said softly, the room now quiet so his voice carried quite well. “Maybe it’s better to start from the beginning. Tubba?” Refusing to cry this time, Tubba waited for Dibby’s word, before delving into the story of the past six years, starting at their faux win at Gusty Gulch. He could see Dibby’s demeanour changing, from one of annoyed frustration to a kinder, more gentle attitude. She had clearly not been expecting that this was what Tubba had to tell her. Tubba talked and talked. It felt like his lips were getting sore, but he had to explain everything, and six years weren’t easy to compress. Eventually, he managed to say what he wanted to with sufficient detail, reaching the point where they joined Bow in the forest. “We needed a powerful group of Boos,” Tubba pointed out, “while we could count on some Clubbas to unite under the dream of independence, probably enough, the Boos would be a fantastic safety net. We didn’t expect the new leader to be you, and that’s why we threw our support behind Bow.” Clearly pondering over what she had heard, Dibby surveyed the group in front of her. “So, if I was to help you... you would drop your alliance with Bow?” Her tone was light, but Tubba could detect a fierce underlying message below them - if they refused to drop their alliance with Bow, they would be torn apart, right here, right now. Uncomfortable with the idea of suddenly abandoning Bow, Tubba had no choice, for Shazam spoke for them. “Of course.” The green Snifit said, clearly having no qualms of their previous word to Bow. “We’d do that.” Relaxing, so that she looked more like the friend Tubba knew, than the leader who was trying to appease her subjects, Dibby floated down next to them. “I recognize Tubba, Gonzales, Blizzerd, Shazam, Xavier... who are the rest of you? Especially that human?” She turned her nose up at Aaron. “That’s Aaron,” Gonzales explained. “It’s a long story, one we really don’t have time for.” He added quickly as Dibby opened her mouth to question his vast change in appearance from the years prior. The other members of the group took a moment to introduce themselves, before Tubba gripped Karubba’s club with impatience. “Can we get a move on? Dibby, what are you and your Boos going to do to help?” He was already mentally preparing a plan - the Boos would scout the territory while invisible, allowing those left in Boo Mansion to have a clear idea of how the new Gusty Gulch looked, and the best place to assemble a crowd of Clubbas. Tubba had a rough idea of where, but it would be excellent if the Boos could help out. “I can promise you my help, Tubba.” Dibby spoke confidently. “I will not, however, put the Boos at risk, not when we really have nothing to gain out of this. We are too mysterious and powerful to be embroiled in such unnecessary conflict. I’m not joining you as a leader of a powerful group - I’m joining you as a friend.” Feeling a little cheated, but knowing there was no way to change Dibby’s mind, Tubba decided that he would do anything to have her by his side - it didn’t matter if they had the Boos or not. “Fine,” he agreed. “Then let’s get moving to Gusty Gulch.” * Tubba took a deep breath of the salty air, carrying the smell of the sea. The sand granules were soft and crumbly beneath his heavy feet, and the wind tugged at him softly, giving him a longing jerk in his belly. He opened his eyes, seeing the red sands blowing ahead of them, and the sandstone houses dotting the path ahead of him. The scarlet sun dipped into the sky behind them, lining the trees behind them with shadows - unnoticeable from inside, but very noticeable from slightly outside. The sun drenched the red sands, so that they turned the colour of blood. Up the hill, many kilometres ahead, was the highlight of the city. The stone towers of the Clubba Castle reached to the sky, touching the orange streaks that adorned it. “Home.” Dibby floated beside him on his left, Paralus to his right. Paralus, of all of them, had been in Gusty Gulch most recently, so Tubba had asked him to be their guide in the city, to avoid the Koopan hotspots and detection. Lingering behind them was Gonzales, who Tubba refused to come along without - they grew up here - Tubba would not step into Gusty Gulch without his best friend. The rest of the team had been left behind in Boo Mansion, waiting for this little mission to be over - there was no sense risking the whole team. What they were hoping to accomplish in Gusty Gulch was to reach a house of safety tonight. Paralus assured them that he knew of a place. Then, using the prime time of late night, even though the streets were far more desolate than Tubba had ever known them, Paralus and Gonzales - it would be too risky for Tubba to go along - would slip away to various bars and meeting points, spreading the word of an “important announcement,” by their King - to the grunt Koopan soldiers, Ludwig - the following morning, at the square just below the balcony of the Castle - the very place where Tubba and Chubba’s egg had been presented to the city thirty years ago, on that balcony overlooking the famous square, a hotbed for Clubban activity. Initially, Dibby had been reluctant to come along, but Tubba persuaded her to - if anyone could help them avoid detection, it would be the ghost, wouldn’t it? Dibby agreed, on the condition that they would take the safest route possible - she would not let any of the Clubbas get into trouble. Approaching Gusty Gulch from the west was a little strange - Tubba normally approached Gusty Gulch from the south, whenever he had left on foot. Forever Forest stretched around both exits, so he supposed it made no difference. Paralus led them across the sands, through back alleys, behind sandstone houses. Tubba realized he was leading them to southern Gusty Gulch, from where they were in western Gusty Gulch, where the high-ranking Clubbas had lived in the old monarchy. “You know someone high-ranked?” Tubba remarked quietly, but the large orange Clubba merely grunted, which could’ve meant anything. Something was off with Paralus - he was typically reticent, speaking only when necessary, but he rarely didn’t answer Tubba’s questions. They reached southern Gusty Gulch without any difficulty, and before long, Paralus was beckoning them into an old sandstone house just south the Castle. Tubba’s heart ached - to be so close to the Castle, the place of his birth, the place of his ancestors, and to know it was under Koopan possession. The house they entered was quite dusty, with a faded “C..b..th” sign stapled on the door. The whole area around the house felt familiar, and it gave Tubba shivers down his spine. He guessed it was just being so close to the Castle. Paralus closed the door behind them, leaving them all in the house. It was quite roomy, typical of a very high-ranking Clubba, with a hallway down the foyer leading to the living room and kitchen, and sandstone stairs leading to higher levels. The whole place was quite dusty, as if no one had been there for quite a while. Tubba’s eyes caught a picture on a ledge. Trotting over to it, he took it off the ledge, and blew away the dust. It was a Clubban family - the mother was a red Clubba, the father was yellow, both of them built powerfully and buff. They had three sons standing in front of them - the youngest, hardly more than five by the looks of it, was looking innocently out of the frame. The middle, standing to the right of his brother, looking around nine or ten, was crossing his arms and leaning comfortably against his father. His blood turned cold as he saw the eldest brother. A large, powerful, orange Clubba, looking about fourteen years old, with matching orange hair... it was a Clubba he hadn’t seen in sixteen years, drawing himself up to his full height, a dazzling smile. It was in that instant he realized he recognized the youngest brother as well, and his heart started beating faster. “That’s right, Tubba.” Paralus' quiet voice echoed over his shoulder. “Bubba is my elder brother.”